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Dan Mechura

Allstar Record Co. 1953: 3116 Garrow St., Houston TX 1958-1959: 2106 Orean Street, Houston 17, Texas 1960: Allstar Music Enterprises, 8029 Gulf Freeway, Houston 17, Texas 1961-1966: 1110 Washington, South Houston, Texas also: Allstar Distributors Allstar Records, a quasi-song-poem label with a slightly more plausible claim to legitimacy than most its song-sharking peers, was the brainchild of Houston country musician/”singer” Daniel James Mechura. The ambitious Mechura started out as the frontman of a local outfit, the Sun Valley Playboys, enjoying one release on the Starday label (which they paid for themselves) in 1955. By that time, Dan had discovered the seedy underworld of songwriter’s clubs and, sensing an opportunity ripe for exploitation, soon began doing business as president of “The Folk Writers Co-Operative Association,” generously offering “every songwriter the help which is necessary to succeed in this competitive field,” as stated in one sales pitch. A record label of their own was the logical outgrowth of this “co-op.”